The present invention relates to automotive accessory equipment, and specifically, to automotive side bars or Nerf bars.
Modern pick-up trucks, sport utility vehicles, and other vehicles that are designed with door sills that are positioned relatively high from the ground are sometimes uncomfortably high for persons entering the vehicle. Since vehicles generally no longer include running boards or the like, it is frequently desirable to employ an accessory device that provides an intermediate step for a prospective occupant of the vehicle to use when mounting or dismounting the vehicle.
It has therefore become common for owners of such vehicles to attach an accessory product known in the industry as a side bar. These side bars are sometimes built sufficiently strong to provide protection to the door sills of the vehicle when such vehicles are used for rugged terrain off-road use. However, the more common usage of such side bars is to provide a step to assist an occupant when entering or leaving the vehicle. Frequently, such side bars are employed primarily as a decorative additive to be mounted on the vehicle to enhance the latter""s appearance.
Such side bars are usually produced to fit a specific vehicle such that the side bar will extend from some position forward of the front door of the vehicle to a position aft of the rear door of the vehicle; similarly sometimes the side bars extend rearwardly of the vehicle to permit the bar to be used as a step to access the bed of a pick-up truck. The side bars are therefore bulky items and when shipped to a vehicle owner or purchaser, the shipping charges attendant the long awkward length of the bar renders the shipping costs substantial. That is, shippers normally charge in accordance with a combination of weight, length, and width of a product being shipped. When the product is extraordinarily long, as in the case of Nerf bars, the shipping charges may be significantly increased as a result of penalties added because of the bar""s length.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a side bar that can be economically shipped from a point of origin to a site of distribution or purchaser.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a side bar that may conveniently be packaged in a more economical manner while providing convenient assembly by the purchaser.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a side bar that is divided into sections, each of which may be conveniently oriented with respect to adjacent sections and all of which may be conveniently joined to provide a unitary structure.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as the description thereof proceeds.
The present invention comprises a side bar that is divided into sections to permit the bar to be packaged in a convenient manner for economical shipment. When the bar arrives at its point of use, the sections are conveniently assembled through the utilization of a support rail mounted within the tubular side bar together with fasteners provided for securing the sections together. An alignment notch is provided in each section that registers with an alignment pin provided in the interior of a joint sleeve to permit the sections of the bar to be aligned to insure proper orientation of the sections with respect to each other and to facilitate mounting of the bar to a vehicle.